Al Garner was a son of Asa Duggan Garner and Bessie Yopp Garner. In 1940 the Garners lived on Old Valdosta Road west of Ray City, but later moved closer to town on what is now known as Garner Road. Al’s father was a contractor who worked in heavy construction. His younger sister, Marjorie Garner, attended the Ray City School where she performed with the Glee Club. His brothers, Wendell and Carlton, attended high school in Nashville.

A.D. “Al” Garner attended Berry College in Rome, GA. After college he entered Officer Training and served in the Navy as a Lieutenant JG in the South Pacific during WWII.

A.D. “Al” GarnerWednesday, July 11. 2012

A.D. “Al” Garner, 92, passed away Tuesday, June 26, 2012 at Appling Healthcare System. Garner was born in Laurens County, and resided in Berrien County before entering school at Berry College in Rome, where he graduated in January, 1944. He completed officer’s training school at Columbia University in New York City and entered the U.S. Navy, serving in the South Pacific in World War II. He was employed as the Farm Superintendent at the Georgia Baptist Children’s Home Baxley Campus for thirty years, retiring in 1985. Garner was active in civic organizations over the years and was recognized and awarded for his agricultural and farming achievements, including being named Appling County Farmer of the Year. He was a member of Mt. Vernon Baptist Church where he served as a deacon and taught Sunday School for sixty years, having retired from teaching the Joy Group Class. He sang in the choir, led singing, rendered many solos, served as church treasurer, chairman of the deacons and in numerous other church positions. Garner was preceded in death by a son, Stephen Thomas Garner; a daughter, Barbara Carol Garner; five sisters, Louise Snipes, Frances Griffin, Jeanette Myers, Belle Calhoun and Marjorie Gaskins, one brother, William A. Garner; and long-time friend H.G. “Pap” Dennis.

Funeral services were held at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, June 29, at Mt. Vernon Baptist Church, with visitation held from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. prior to the service. Officiating at the services were the Rev. Darrell Quinn, Pastor of Mt. Vernon Baptist Church, and Dr. Paul Dennis, Pastor of Royal Baptist Church, Newnan.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Georgia Special Olympics at specialolympicsga.org or Gracewood State Hospital, Augusta, Georgia.

Al Garner’s family wishes to thank everyone for your prayers, love and support, and to quote from a note received from niece and journalist Suzanne Comer Bell upon hearing of his death, words which express our thoughts and feelings so well…. “My world tilts a little today, as we lost a giant in our family last night (June 26, 2012), my beloved Uncle Al Garner. He was my oldest living uncle on my father’s side, one of six boys (counting blood and married uncles) who went to war in the forties from the Comer family. Such a gentle man, a champion farmer, cowboy, devoted husband, father, and grandfather. He joins many who live in our memories, and leaves many to hold each other in our tears today.”

Maurice “Max” Johnson (1922-2012) grew up in Ray City, GA. As a boy he attended the Ray City School ( see Glee Club Gave 1939 Christmas Cantata and Ray City School 1934) graduating with the Ray City High School Class of 1940. The Johnsons were a prominent family in Ray City and have been the subject of several other posts, linked below. Records of the census enumeration conducted in the spring of 1940 show Maurice Johnson was a student and also working as assistant janitor at the school. His father, JHP Johnson, was a retired merchant, his mother, Chloe Johnson, was Assistant Postmaster of Ray City, and his older brother, Glen, was working as a band instructor.

During WWII, Max Maurice Johnson served in the U. S. Army Air Force as pilot of a B-24 Liberator bomber. Another brother, Lawton Walker Johnson, was killed in 1945 while serving in the Navy. Other Ray City men in the Army Air Force included B-26 Marauder pilot James Swindle, and flying officer Jim Paulk. Sgt. Mitchell Moore was assigned to the 854 AAF Bomber Squadron, 491st Bomber Group, flying as a crewman on a B-24 Liberator.Charles Shaw was sent to the 96th Bomb Group, 8th Army Air Force, stationed at Snetterton Heath, England where he joined the crew of the B-17 Mischief Maker II. William C. Webb served in the Medical Corps of the Army Air Force and Howell Shaw served at Sedalia Army Air Field. Lt. Jamie Connell, of Nashville, served as a navigator-bombardier. Saunto Sollami served in the Army Air Corp and came to the area after the war.

After the war, Max attended the University of Georgia Law School. He was a founding member of Phi Alpha Delta legal fraternity at UGA. He took the Georgia Bar Exam in Atlanta, GA in the summer of 1947 and graduated from the law school in December of that year.

Max Maurice Johnson died on September 25, 2012 at LaGrange, GA. He was buried at Carrollton Memory Gardens, Carrollton, GA.

Obituary of Max Maurice Johnson

Mr. Max Maurice Johnson, 90, of Carrollton passed away on September 25, 2012 at the West Georgia Hospice in LaGrange Georgia, after succumbing to his battle with bladder cancer.

Mr. Johnson was born in Ray City, GA on May 28, 1922, the son of the late Joseph Henry Pascal Johnson and Chloe Ann Gardner Johnson. He was a veteran of the U. S. Army Air Force where he served as a B-24 pilot during WWII from 1942 to 1945. He and his wife of 69 years, Frances A. Johnson, moved to Decatur, Georgia in the summer of 1960 then to Carrollton in 2000. They built a house next to their daughter and settled into a comfortable and productive lifestyle. They became active members of the Carrollton First United Methodist Church and enjoyed good relationships there.

His career and his education were devoted to education. He attended Martha Berry College, Georgia Southwestern College and University of Georgia for his undergraduate degree and University of Georgia for his Masters in Education as well as his law degree. He was a principal both of elementary and secondary schools in Berrien County Georgia. At the age of 38, he changed careers and built a successful educational marketing business, Educational Marketing Services, selling educational products to school systems.

He was a loving and devoted husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather and is seceded in death by Timothy Max Poucher, grandson. He is survived by three daughters and two sons in law; Sandra Dianne and Robert Alan Fischer of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Suzanne Johnson of Fort Myers, Florida, and Kathryn Elaine and Carl Emil Poucher of Carrollton. Survivors also include grandchildren and their spouses; Shawn William Fischer, Ashley Ayn and James Edward Remik, Kevin Hamilton Butts and Deanna Lynn Ford, Jessica Robin and Daniel Eric Blanks, Mark Christian and Melissa Caspary- Poucher, John Gabriel and Kendall Poucher, Justin Cauldwell Poucher. great grandchildren, William Jeremy and Caleb James Remik, Noah Lane Butts, Isaiah Samuel, Judah Isaac, Chava Chloe, Aaron Levi, Ari Mordechai, and Tovia Yosef Blanks, Ethan Ry and Samantha Eve Caspary-Poucher.

Memorial Services will be Monday, October 1, 2012 at the Carrollton First United Methodist Church with Rev. Gerry Davis and Dr. Dean Milford officiating.

The family will be receiving friends and family beginning at 10AM followed by Memorial Services at 11AM.

The family requests contributions to Carrollton First United Methodist, 206 Newnan Street, Carrollton, GA 30117, in lieu of flowers and messages of condolence may be sent to the family at http://www.almonfuneralhome.com.

Funeral arrangements are being made by Almon Funeral Home of Carrollton.